Microbial Products Mediated Stable Foam Formation under Controlled Environmental Conditions for Pollutant Management

Background and Objective: Marine environment pollution is a significant threat to aquatic life. Addressing the removal or degradation of pollutants presents a substantial challenge for the scientific community. Bio-removal of contaminants using microbes and their products is an effective solution. Hence, the current study aimed to isolate and identify the marine microbial species for the production of stable foams and separation, characterization and application studies on stable foams. Materials and Methods: Marine sludge is the source for the isolation of organisms and the growth media used is Zobell marine broth. Isolated marine bacteria inoculated in Zobell marine broth and incubated at different environmental conditions. Physical parameters such as media composition, pH, temperature, agitation speed and flask type are optimized for stable foam formation. The obtained foam was subjected to various instrumental analyses to explore the constituents and the nature of the stable foam. Results: All the experimental studies prove that the marine bacterial isolate can able to form foam when grown in Zobell medium at 200 rpm, at pH 7.5 and temperature 30-37°C. The characterization studies reveal protein and other aliphatic molecules are the major constituents of the stable foam. Conclusion: The results of the study suggested the necessity of site-directed mutagenesis to understand the pathway of foam production in microorganisms. Further, the application study suggested the isolate might find immense application in bioremediation of heavy metals and other xenobiotics in soil and water and demand intensive research.